Emirates launches second daily flight
Published by Simon Gwynn on Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 22:12
Emirates Airline has launched its second daily non-stop flight from Glasgow to Dubai, affirming its commitments to the city.
The announcement comes as a result of continued growth in demand for Emirates' service between Glasgow and Dubai. It will generate up to 12 new direct jobs and indirectly support many others with Emirates' contracted suppliers, as well as generating millions in visitor revenue, contributing to the overall Scottish economy.
Since its commencement in 2004, the Dubai-based international airline's Glasgow service has carried over 1.7 million passengers and over 46 million kilos of cargo to and from the Middle East and beyond.
The additional flight, coupled with an aircraft upgrade on the existing service, will increase Emirates' capacity to and from Glasgow by 47 per cent, an extra 398 seats per day (199 each way).
It will also see the introduction of a First Class cabin onto both daily services, the first time this has been offered by a commercial airline from Scotland.
It will also provide an additional 13 tonnes of daily cargo capacity - a 59 per cent uplift on existing volumes.
Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said:
"Since its launch in 2004, Emirates' Dubai route has proved hugely
successful with business and leisure passengers and its decision to
introduce a second daily service is fantastic news for both Glasgow
Airport and Scotland as a whole.
"The ability of Scotland to maintain and increase its global
competitiveness is dependent on having air links with established
and emerging markets and not only will Emirates' new service
considerably strengthen our long-haul route network, it will play a
crucial role in allowing companies from across Scotland to access
and trade with markets such as China, south-east Asia and
India."
With Emirates' rapidly expanding global network, travellers from Scotland can connect to over 115 destinations worldwide via Dubai. The most popular routes for Scottish passengers include Dubai, the airline's four Australian gateways - Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane - along with New Zealand (Auckland and Christchurch), Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cochin and the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and the Maldives.
Cargo shippers across Scotland have also taken advantage of Emirates' excellent flight connections. The main commodities being shipped include Scottish produce such as whisky, smoked salmon and oysters, as well as items including oil-well equipment, helicopter and aircraft parts, and medical equipment. There has also been an increase in demand for transporting live animals, particularly pets such as cats and dogs moving to Australia.
The new scheduled evening service will be operated by a three-class Airbus A340-300 aircraft, carrying 12 First Class passengers, 42 in Business Class and 213 in Economy Class.
The aircraft also possesses a cargo capacity of 13 tonnes. Flight EK26 will depart daily from Glasgow at 2130hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0800hrs (next day); with the EK25 return service departing from Dubai at 1450hrs, arriving in Glasgow at 2000hrs.
The existing daytime flight EK27/EK28 is being upgraded to a three-class Boeing 777-300ER with eight Private Suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy Class. It also has 22 tonnes of cargo capacity.
In addition to Glasgow, Emirates operates flights to Dubai from Heathrow (five times daily), London Gatwick and Manchester (three times daily), Birmingham (twice daily) and Newcastle (daily).
